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Question About '05 S55 AMG Rim Size & Winter Tire Option
Hey friends,
I own a 2005 S55 AMG and I recently bought a new set of tires for the first time since purchasing the vehicle and ran into a curious situation.
I thought that this model had 18", 8.5" wide AMG IV (pictured above) rims with P245/45R18 profile tires in the front, with 18", 9" wide rims with P265/40R18 profile tires in the rear.
However when I bought the new set of tires my mechanic informed me that my particular vehicle has the 18", 8.5" wide rims with P245/45R18 profile tires on all 4 corners. I had him double check when he was straightening a couple of them that had minor bends, a common occurrence in Ohio where the roads are like the surface of the moon. He mentioned something about this being a winter tire option that was available for the car.
I was curious if this winter tire option information was accurate and what the point of the option was. Is there any other explanation for it having the smaller rims on all 4 corners? Maybe a past owner just felt they absolutely had to rotate the tires and replaced the back wheels.
Thanks for any information anyone feels like providing!
Pages 423 and 424 in your owners maual show the wheel/tire sizes for the same size front and rear wheel configuration. Did not know this was available as an option for US delivery, but my ignorace of it means nothing.
245 45 18 is the recommended tire size for winter tires it is printed on the driver door jam.
It's possible that whoever you bought it from had an extra set and kept the 9 inch rims for themselves.
'06 MB S55 AMG; '04 Audi Allroad 4.2; '05 BMW M3 Conv.; '92 MB 500E
I didn't know these came with ANY non-staggered fitments. But that doesn't mean much.
I also didn't know anyone drove them in winter, such that a "winter tire option" made any sense. That doesn't mean much either.
My guess is, the rears were damaged at one point and putting fronts on the rear was either easier to be found, or less expensive to be had -- or both -- by someone. Sounds more like a dealer move than any prior owner, to me.
Some owners here have experimented with different widths front and back, and I'm not sure a square setup (255x45x18) all around wouldn't make some sense. It would certainly let you rotate tires. I run this on my RWD MB500E (still not in winter), and I can't see why it wouldn't work on this car. As long as the wheels are the right offset and clear the brakes, why not?
The reality is, no matter what you put on the car, the rears are gonna break'em loose under anything other than light throttle, especially in anything approaching "winter" almost anywhere on the globe. I run 285/19s in the rear and she breaks'em loose on 95 degree days.
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